Designed to detect radio waves in space, Antarctic balloon-mediated experiments instead picked up strange signals that appeared to come from deep in the ice. These signals challenge the current understanding of particle physics, scientists say.
Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) Experiments It consists of radio antennas flying 19-24 miles (30-39 km) above the surface of the Antarctic. In recent years, detectors have recorded radio pulses that appear to rise through the Earth. Anita detected these signals at “a really steep angle, like 30 degrees below the surface of ice,” co-author of co-author Stephanie Wissel, an associate professor of physics in Pennsylvania. I said In a university statement. This suggests that the radio pulse traveled through a solid lock of 6,000-7,000 km (3,700-4,300 miles) to reach the detector.
According to current models in particle physics, these radio pulses must be fully absorbed by the rock and be impossible to detect. “It’s an interesting question because we don’t really have an explanation for what those anomalies are yet,” Wissel said. She and her colleagues published their findings in the journal Physical Review Letter In March.
Anita’s comprehensive goal is to gather information about deep space events by analyzing the signals reaching the Earth. This experiment plays a pivotal role in Search for neutrinos– With no charge ering particles Minimum mass of all subatomic particles.
Neutrinos are abundant throughout the universe, and they pass through us constantly – and they usually come from high energy sources like the sun and supernova. The problem is that, according to Wissel, it is very difficult to detect those signals. Anita aims to overcome this challenge Sniffing out Radio emissions are released when they interact with Antarctic ice.
When the balloon-mediated detector flies over the ice extension, it looks for an “ice shower.” This looks for a cascade of particles caused by neutrinos hitting the ice on the surface. These particle showers generate radio signals That anita can be detected. Ice-interacting neutrinos also produce secondary particles called taureptones, which gradually break down and lose energy. This damping causes another type of discharge known as an “air shower.” Researchers can distinguish between ice and air showers to characterize the particles that created the signal, then return the signal to its origin.
However, abnormally sharp angles of abnormal signals were excluded Possible they may come from ice-interaction neutrinos or tau leptons they produce. Wissel and her colleagues analyzed data from multiple Anita flights and compared it to mathematical models and simulations for both cosmic rays and air showers. This allowed Anita to eliminate the possibility of detecting other known particle-based signals.
The researchers then compared ANITA data to findings from other major neutrino detectors, such as the IceCube experiment and the Pierre Auger Observatory, to see if they captured similar anomalies. They still couldn’t find the answer. No other detectors registered anything that could explain the anita abnormality. The only thing Wissel and her colleagues can certainly say is that the particles that cause the strange signal are not neutrinos.
Hopefully the next big detector will reveal more information about these anomalies. In Pennsylvania, the Whissel team is Design and Building Payload for ultra-high energy observation (PUEO) missions. According to Wissel, this new detector is bigger and better at detecting neutrino signals.
She has already made early hypotheses about the nature of these anomalies. “My guess is that some interesting radio propagation effects occur near the ice and also near the horizon I don’t fully understand, but we certainly explored some of them.
“So it’s one of these long-standing mysteries, and when we fly Pueo, we’re excited to get better sensitivity. As a rule, we should pick up more anomalies and perhaps we need to really understand what they are.
